tuque /tūk/ n Canadian English, var. toque[19th c. Canadian French, from the French toque, from the Basque tauka] 1 A close-fitting knitted cap, often with a long tapering end or tassel or pompom. 2 fig Something quintessentially Canadian.

souq/sūk/ n from the Arabic سوقvar. souk 1 An open-air marketplace. 2fig A central meeting place for the circulation of news and ideas.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Somali Piracy Watch: Show me the Money!

A spokesman for Somalia's infamous pirates confessed to the New York Times that he and his fellow buccaneers are simply in it for the money.

[That's The New York Times, ladies and gentlemen... "all the news that's fit to print."]

“We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.”

"We only want money, so we can protect ourselves from hunger.” [Why so much money?] "We have a lot of men."

“Somalia has suffered from many years of destruction because of all these weapons. We don’t want that suffering and chaos to continue... We just want the money.”

We just want the money. Mr. Ali then goes on to explain in the NYT article that the pirates are a cash-only business. No credit cards, please.

[See more from the Tuque Souq on Somali piracy, including Canada's role, here and here.]